Famous People From Washington

Washington, the northwestern-most state of the contiguous United States, the only state that was named after George Washington, the first President of the United States, boasts of many famous people who went on to become notable figures in their respective fields. They were the ones who made their nation proud.

Washingtonians, as the people of Washington are called, naturally hold great regard for the work of the distinguished people of their state.

His name is William Henry Gates. He was born on October 28, 1955 in Seattle, Washington. His father William Gates, Sr. was a famous lawyer of his time and his mother Mary Maxwell Gates was on the board of directors of First Interstate BancSystem and the United Way. His parents had thought of making Gates a lawyer.

In 1973, Bill Gates graduated from the Lakeside School and joined the Harvard College. He did not have an exact plan for further studies when at Harvard but after the release of Intel 8080 CPU by Intel, he decided to start a software company.

Considering his strong will and determination towards starting up a new company, his parents decided to support him in his decision. He partnered with Paul Allen to start a company and named their partnership as Micro-soft. In no time, Microsoft received a patent from the USPTO.

The Microsoft Era had begun! Today he is a business icon and one of the top three richest people of the world. After assuming the posts of CEO and chief software architect in Microsoft, he remains to be the non-executive chairman of Microsoft and moreover one of the greatest entrepreneurs of the computer industry.

Born on August 14, 1950, Gary was born and brought up in the University Place, Washington. He was a notable cartoonist of America. He was a student of the Curtis Senior High School and later attended the Washington State University to graduate in communications. His older brother Dan led Gary to develop a liking for science.

Larson's use of snakes in his cartoons can be attributed to his interest in herpetology. He was working in a music store when he realized he was not interested in that job. He decided to rethink about his career and took a few days off from work. During the leave he drew some cartoons and posted them to different magazines.

Soon his work began to be published in newspapers. He is famed for his work, The Far Side. His cartoons were published in various newspapers all over the world. The National Cartoonist Society honored Larson with the Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award in 1985.

His achievements in biology include the discovery of a new insect species and a butterfly being named after him. His comic strip, The Far side has been appearing in various newspapers for fourteen long years, earning him name and fame.

He was one of the very early American settlers in what is now known as the U.S. State of Washington. He was also the first black settler to be in Washington State. Born around 1778 in Virginia, he was the only child of his parents. He participated in the war of 1812. He worked as a fur trapper and a voyager. He served in the Hudson's Bay Company.

When he was a trapper he acquired navigation skills and obtained knowledge of the Western region. He and his family were known for their generosity. Later the Bushes settled in the southwestern region of Puget Sound. This place is Turnwater of today's Washington. They called their settlement as the Bush Prairie.

Bush spent his life in Washington. He passed away on April 5, 1863 and was entombed in Thurston County, Washington. He left the world leaving behind a legacy of six sons who walked in his footsteps to carry out social service.

Born on February 8, 1906, Chester Carlson was an American inventor and physicist born in Seattle, Washington. Due to the precarious health of both his parents, he had to support his family from an early age. He lost his parents when he was very young.

He thought of inventing something to attain economic growth while also focusing on his interests in technology. He earned a degree in physics from the California Institute of Technology and began to serve as a research engineer in the Bell Telephone Laboratories. He always thought about devising a way to produce prints.

It took him fifteen long years to bring about the principles of electrophotography, which was later known as xerography. His invention earned him fame and money and brought a revolution to the way people worked. He was a man who rose above his difficulties and made a dream come true.

These were just a few of the great names from the list of the famous people of Washington. These names born in Washington, achieved world-recognition for their work. Trying to enlist more famous people from Washington will still leave many names unmentioned.